A stop and chat with Marcus Hahnemann

Sounders FC’s Marcus Hahnemann has stayed busy while recovering from a hamstring injury. The veteran goalkeeper actually did pregame work for the television broadcast of last week’s game against the Colorado.

Hahnemann talked about that, post-career options and give a little bit of an injury update after Tuesday’s practice. He even likened himself to a horse in a petting zoo.

Here is a full transcript, and Questions 2 through 5 were in good humor in case that doesn’t come across:

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(How did the TV work go?) “It was pretty fun. I went up and (TV host Jackie Montgomery) and them were like, ‘Oh, we’ll go through a rehearsal and kind of show you what to expect.’ So they were kind of like, ‘OK, don’t talk so much here, just be a little bit quicker, and that was it.’ Then they go, ‘Oh, do you want to do another one? Another rehearsal?’ I’m like, ‘No.’ I go, ‘This is nuts.’ Normally you go and you just answer questions and then you’re OK. When you go on TV and you have a script of what you want to do, no I’m better off not knowing anything and just going and almost treating it like an interview. Because they set you up for everything, kind of go, ‘Oh, what do you think about this or that?’ Inevitably I screw things up anyway. They go, ‘Don’t talk about that,’ and I end up talking about something they didn’t want me to talk about. And you answer the next question because you kind of lump both of them together or something like that.”

(Did they have to use the bleep button?) “I succeeded. When I hit the end of it, they go, ‘How’d you do? I said, ‘I didn’t swear, so that was the good part.'”

(What is tougher: that or being a goalkeeper?) “That’s a little bit easier. You can be drinking a beer while you’re doing that. I’d rather do that.”

(You never drank while playing?) “Well, you have to hide it in your Gatorade bottle.”

(Any makeup?) “No. Surprisingly, because normally I wear lots of makeup. I left it that day and thought I would get it when I got to the studio. But they don’t have that. A little low budget.”

(Any more respect for Kasey Keller afterward?) “No. Of course not.”

(Kasey had done studio work for ESPN as a player, then transitioned to that post-career. Have you that about that as a post-career option?) “Not really. I’m thinking about my stupid hamstring that’s giving me fits right now. Obviously that’s one of the fun jobs you can get into when you’re done, because you’re kind of involved, you’re going to the games and you’re still involved in the sport. So that and coaching are the two probably biggest things you can stay involved in the pro game. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. We’ll see. Right now I’m still fighting with this stupid hamstring. So me and Josh (Ford) were doing a little bit of training today, him with his knee and me with my hamstring, we were hobbling around, but it’s getting better.”

(Do you have a sense of how long you’ll be out?) “No. Last week I felt really good on … Thursday, when we were training in the stadium. I’m running stairs and doing a whole bunch of stuff, and you go home, because everything’s going so well, and you push too hard and then hit a setback. But I’m gaining ground again. The longest I could run continuously was like one lap, which sounds pretty sad, because my hamstring would just tighten up. You didn’t have the flexibility to really stretch out. Today I wanted to see if I could get a lap in again and just bombed three. And I was faster than before, I’m striding, looking better — I feel like I’m looking better, probably not — so it’s just you’re making leaps every day and so I don’t know. It’s hard to tell.”

(How frustrating is it to be injured at the same time as Michael Gspurning?) “Well, the older you get, your chances become limited — just the sheer number. I was telling Josh (Ford) today, I go, ‘If I was a horse I’d be in the paddock right now and kids would come over and pet me. Nobody would ride me anymore; they’d just be feeding me carrots. I used to go on these trail rides and climb mountains and now I’m at the petting zoo. It’s a little bit frustrating. It is what it is. There are no words to describe how frustrating it is. If Michael was still playing it would’ve been a little bit easier to take. You’d be like, ‘OK, I’m going to get myself fit and I’ll be ready,’ but he goes down in San Jose and you’re thinking, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ Just like a nice little kick I didn’t quite need.”